This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is a dialectal variant spelling of the name Chedworth, from a place so called in Gloucestershire, the site of an ancient Roman villa, formerly recorded as "Ceddanwryde" is the Saxon Charters of 872, and as "Cedeorde" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The derivation is from an Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Cedda", and "worth", a homestead, often found in the form "ward". There is a prevalence of this name and the other variants Kedward(e)s, and Kidward, in Gloucestershire, while only one recording in London, which suggests that families taking their name from the village did not move too far out of the area. Recorded in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire is the marriage of one, Thomas Kedwood and Agnys Phyllyps on December 19th 1575. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edward Kedward, which was dated January 13th 1575, Tewkesbury, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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